


Can't Wait To Get Home

by Cheeky_The_Monkey



Series: Working Boys [1]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Good old days, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-04 21:42:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17312369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheeky_The_Monkey/pseuds/Cheeky_The_Monkey
Summary: Henry Hidgens enjoyed life. Everything seemed normal. Too normal. So what was so different about that particular day? Who was this mysterious Xandra? And why was everything so painful?An elaborate plot to get Mark a girlfriend goes horribly wrong.





	1. A Hazy Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Quick tip for reading this:
> 
> You need to think about the implications.

_Cold. So, so cold. It hurt. Why did it hurt? Everything started to go dark..._

“Hey, Henry!”

Henry Hidgens groaned. Barely awake, he sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes wearily.

“Greg… what time is it?” He asked, noticing his friend’s energetic presence. He didn’t bother waiting for a reply, as he glanced over his bare shoulder at his alarm clock on a little wooden table. 

Upon reading the time, he was jolted awake. “Five AM? Get outta here, Greg! It’s my day-off!” He picked up the nearest thing on the table (which happened to be a dirty sock) and lobbed it at Greg. He missed.

“Pshh” said Greg as he opened the blinds, letting light seep into Henry’s small bedroom. He then jumped onto the bed (obtaining another groan from Henry) and pulled off his covers.

“Yeah, but what else is today? Or have you really forgotten all of last night?” Asked Greg.

Henry muttered something under his breath, before innocently asking “What’s happening today?”

Greg snorted loudly and gave him a powerful slap on his bare back. It hurt Henry quite a lot, but he didn’t comment. He was used to his mates messing around with him.

“The big game!” After seeing Henry’s blank face, he continued “You know, the one that all the girls are coming to watch so we can try and get Mark a girlfriend.”

Suddenly, Henry understood. He still didn’t remember planning it (he’d probably had too much to drink the night before) but he knew that the match was important. Ever since Mark had come out as straight, the boys had all been desperate to hook him up.

Henry leapt out of bed, quickly slipped on a t-shirt, and rushed out of the door and away from Greg’s laughter.

He raced down the hall and almost fell down the narrow staircase. He did stub his toe though, and he swore loudly. He’d forgotten how painful it was. He ended up hopping downstairs and into the kitchen, where the rest of the boys were all gathered around the old table eating breakfast.

They were all engrossed in different activities. Leighton and Steve were partaking in a deadly thumb war; both of their elbows were zooming around and getting dangerously close to Chad’s head. Chad just sat there nibbling his burnt toast politely. Since it was Stu’s turn to cook, Stu was running around the kitchen attempting to fry an egg and make coffee at the same time. It wasn’t going well. There were four empty chairs, one for Henry, Greg and Stu respectively. Also for Mark, but the boys were letting him get his beauty sleep.

Chad was the first to notice Henry enter, and he smiled warmly at the sight of him. “Morning, Henry!” he said.

Upon hearing Chad speak, Leighton turned his head and saw Henry (and Greg who had come up behind him). Steve used the distraction to his advantage and held down Leighton’s thumb, before declaring “Ha! I won!”

A look of horror flooded onto Leighton’s face.  
“What?! No you didn’t, that’s cheating!”

“Yeah he did. I saw.” Said Stu, placing a fresh batch of burnt toast onto the table.

“Not my fault you have an attention span of a dog.”

“Ugh, fine.” Admitted Leighton, as he slumped down in his chair with an air of defeat.

“So, what took you so long?” Asked a grinning Steve.

“Uh, I had a nightmare.” Replied Henry, sitting down at the table and reaching for a plate. It was half-true. Though he couldn’t recall the details, he remembered feeling extremely scared.

“Pffft, no. Professor Browne here just forgot about today.” Said Greg, giving Henry yet another hearty slap on the back. It still hurt.

Henry felt heat rising to his cheeks at the mention of one of his many nicknames. He had been to see Bedknobs And Broomsticks when it had first come to the theaters, and he had fallen in love with the film. From that moment his dream had been to write his own musical. Unfortunately, as soon as he had admitted his dream to the boys, they had not let him hear the end of it.

Stu placed a fried egg onto his plate. “Well, eat what you can. Then we have to go wake Prince Charming.” 

Henry smiled and tucked in.


	2. Xandra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry meets someone he can't help but feel like he's met before...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you still thinking about the implications? Good. Just checking.

_Red. Red everywhere. Red clouding his vision. Red on his skin. There was too much, but why was there too little?_

Greg rushed over to tear an aggressive Leighton away from a teasing Steve, who had been gloating in his victory all day. It had become too much for Leighton, who attempted to pin Steve to the ground. Steve only kicked back, and the boys witness the battle of the century. It was only when it got slightly too violent that Greg (albeit reluctantly) broke them up.

“Come on guys, we can’t get injured _before_ the game!”

The rest of the gang watched as Leighton began advancing on Greg instead, and soon all three of them were involved in the scramble.

Ignoring the scrap behind them, Stu placed his arm on Mark’s shoulder and used his other hand to point at the small group of girls that had come to watch the match.

“So, which one of them girls d’ya like most?” he asked.

A wide-eyed Mark simply gazed at them, before snapping out of his trance and replying “They’re all nice.”

Stu sighed. “Yeah, but there must be one that catches your eye? Y’know, one that you’d want to fu-”

“I NEED CHAD’S OPINION”

Chad hadn’t been prepared to contribute to the conversation. 

“O-oh, um,” he stuttered “w-what about the new girl? The one talking to Katie”

Mark seemed to contemplate for a moment, before shaking his head.  
“I dunno, I’ve never actually talked to her. I wanna know what she’s like before I make a decision. What do you think, Henry?”

Henry had been miles away. For some reason, he found himself unable to stop staring at said new girl. The way her short, cropped black hair glistened as she laughed with her friends. Or the way her tanned skin seemed to glow in the light of the afternoon. Something was nagging him at the back of his mind that he'd seen her somewhere before, but he ignored it. What was wrong with him?

“Henry!”

Henry’s head snapped to Mark, who was waving his hand in front of his face. 

“Y-yes?” He replied a little too late.

Mark just laughed. “The new girl, eh?”

Stu mocked a look of horror. “Something you’re not telling us, mate?”

Henry shook his head fervently. He didn’t want to find himself in a Mark situation.

Mark suddenly pushed him forward roughly. Henry almost fell over at the sheer force of the shove, but managed to catch himself just in time. It still hurt, though.

“Go get her, tiger!” 

Henry picked himself up and looked back at his friends sheepishly. They were all mouthing a variation of “go on!” and gesturing for him to walk. So he walked. And walked. And found himself in some sort of trance as he crossed the field and once again his focus settled on the new girl.

“Uh, can we help you?”

Henry hadn’t realised that he had been standing with the girls for a few seconds too long. Sophie, the leader of the pack, had been the one to speak. He felt warmth in his cheeks as he tried (and failed) to compose and introduce himself.

“Um, hi! I’m Henry” He said.

One of the other girls, who Henry recognised as Katie, spoke next. “Yeah, I know. We’re in the same business class.”

“Yes! That’s right! Um…”

Henry was at a loss for words. For some reason his eyes began begging the new girl for help, but she just looked at him weirdly with a small smile tugging at her dark lips. A smile?

Sophie couldn’t contain her laughter any longer and she guffawed so loudly that Henry was certain that even the boys could hear her. He tensed in shame, before storming off back to his friends. Oh, he was going to make Mark pay for this.

As he marched, he heard Sophie mutter something behind him.  
“Pfft, what a loser.”

Henry spun around on his heel dramatically.  
“I’m _not_ a loser!” he cried, before sprinting off to the forest next to the field in hope of getting to weep in private. He didn’t realise that someone was following him.

“Hey, um, Henry was it?”

Henry stopped and turned to see none other than the pretty new girl jogging up to him. He quickly dried his eyes and didn’t dare to reply for fear that she would hear the crack in his voice.

“I just wanted to say: don’t listen to them. I’ve only been hanging around with them for a few days and I can already tell that they’re absolute jerks.”

Henry couldn’t help but smile at that.

Satisfied with his response, the girl outstretched her hand and said “I’m Xandra. It’s nice to meet you, Henry.”

Henry shook her hand gladly. “Likewise, Xandra.”

A loud whistle screeched through the air.

“I, uh, better get ready for the match.” he said.

Xandra smiled. “I can’t wait to watch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S.  
> Did you catch the Spongebob Musical reference? Because you can't convince me that Hidgens wasn't made for that particular song.


	3. A Messy Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start happening to Henry that make no sense. What's wrong with him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no scene about the game because I know nothing about American football

_Loud. Too loud. Getting louder. Such a beautiful, torturous sound. Why won’t it stop?_

The sound of the whistle pierced through the air, signalling the end of the game. The boys immediately all came and gathered around Henry, who had won them the match.

They all showed their appreciation in the usual way: shoving him around affectionately, before hugging him, thumping him on the back and kissing his cheek.

Which is why it caught him by surprise when he was suddenly pushed far too hard and his nose was somehow touching the dusty ground with blood beginning to seep out of his bruised nostrils.

“You cheat!”

Henry didn’t have enough time to compose himself before he was roughly pulled back onto his feet only to have his face met by a hard fist which sent him tumbling to the ground yet again.

He heard the sound of a struggle.

“Lay off, Kevin!”

Chad’s unmistakable, soft voice rang in his ears. “Are you okay, Henry?”

“Yeah,” said Henry, before coughing violently which let blood splatter onto the dried grass, “I think so.”

“What the hell are you playing at?!” 

Steve came bounding over and pushed Kevin, the biggest and strongest of their opposition, violently.

Kevin pulled himself away from the boys and pointed at a shocked Henry who was getting back onto his feet.

The rest of the opposition came jogging over.

“What’s going on?” Asked their captain, Chris.

“He was way over the line! The point shouldn’t count, so we should’ve won!” Moaned Kevin, still pointing an accusing finger at Henry.

Henry shook his head and said “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise-”

He was cut off as received a sharp punch to the stomach and his boys immediately pulled him behind them protectively.

“Just forget about it! After all,” proclaimed Greg, “it’s only a game.”

That didn’t satisfy the other team, as they all began to surround the boys, shouting over each other. Various expletives were thrown around, before rocks began to be thrown too.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a female voice rang out. “Henry, run!”

Without giving it a second thought, Henry ran. He ducked between the large enemies, took a deep breath and sprinted in the direction that the voice had come from. It happened to be the forest.

Like two packs of wolves both pursuing the same prey, the boys chased after him. Once he reached the forest, he ran into the cover of the trees and put his back to them. He closed his eyes and tried to get his breath back.

Someone placed a cold hand over his mouth. He tried to shout but only a muffled, unintelligible noise came out.

“Henry, listen to me.”

Xandra. Of course it was Xandra. She must have been the one who told him to run.

“Listen to me _very_ carefully,” she began. There was something very different about her to Henry. From the way she held herself, to the monotonous urgency in her voice. He could have even sworn that her eyes glinted blue for just a second. 

Henry nodded his head to show that he was listening, and she removed her hand from his mouth.

Instead she gripped his fragile shoulders and sternly looked him in the eyes and said: “That’s not Greg.”

“Henry!”

Henry heard Stu calling, soon followed by his other friends. However he was still baffled by Xandra’s statement. 

“What?” He asked, shaking her hands off his figure.

“There’s no time to explain, but please: consider the river.”

This left Henry even more confused, and he cautiously stepped away from Xandra before turning around and running towards the boys’ voices. 

Xandra watched him go. If only he knew, she thought.

“There you are!” 

Henry was relieved to see the boys (minus Chris and his goonies) all gathered together as a search party. He strode over to them.

“Hey Greg, you won’t believe what Xandra just-”

There was a sickening crack as a sharp stone bounced off the back of Henry’s head. Chad hid a smirk; he had perfect aim. Henry fell to the ground, stunned. As soon as he opened his eyes, he found himself looking up and seeing blurry figures contrasting against the blue sky.

Said figures began to kick him. He yelled and tried to crawl away from them, but was forced backwards by many large pairs of hands. With his vision still wavering, he fought them off and ran away for the third time that day, only this time he couldn’t see properly.

Tree after tree he bumped into, hitting his head far too many times. He ran as fast as his sore legs would carry him. He ran even as he felt blood trickle down his body. He ran. He didn’t know why he was running, as the day’s events made no sense to him, but still he ran. 

He stopped running when he heard the sound of running water.

Fast running water, coming from somewhere far below him. He crept over, carefully finding safe footing in order to get closer. He must have reached the valley; one of the few forbidden places outside of campus.

_“Hey, Henry!”_

It was Greg’s voice. Henry couldn’t help but feel slightly more relaxed. Greg was his friend, so he must have chased off the guys that attacked him.

However he suddenly remembered Xandra’s strange warning.

“That’s not Greg.”

It couldn’t be… no, Greg couldn’t be the one who hurt him! But he was trapped. He could either follow the sound of Greg’s voice and risk being murdered or risk running through the forest and knocking himself out.

The second half of Xandra’s warning came rushing into his mind.

“Consider the river.”

Henry couldn’t think. Everything was messed up. He couldn’t tell people apart and he had hit his head too many times to be left without damage. That was the only reassurance he gave himself as he took a step forward and prepared himself, praying that it was all a nightmare.

He took a deep breath and jumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CLIFFHANGER! I'd love to hear what you guys think is going on before you read the final chapter!


	4. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't Greg.

Henry Hidgens forced his crusty eyes open, only to instantly snap them shut again. He was surrounded by a blinding white light. The sterile scent of chemicals graced his nostrils. At first he thought he was in a hospital.

He was cold. So, so cold. He was in pain. Why was he in pain? The last thing he remembered was the air rushing around him as he fell to his inevitable death. He must have survived. That was the only explanation his bewildered mind could muster.

He was soaked through. He expected to be wet. The last thing he saw was the river, but now he was lying on his back. He opened his eyelids slightly and gradually managed to open them fully. 

Red. Red everywhere. Red clouding his vision. He attempted to rub his eyes only to find that his arm hadn’t moved. He tried with his left arm which lifted itself an inch off the ground before flopping back onto the cool, smooth floor.

As he became less disorientated, he heard voices. Familiar voices. He felt a wave of relief wash over him, bathing him in a fresh dose of red. Greg. Steve. Stu. Mark. Leighton. Chad. His boys were beside him. They would help him through whatever was going on. They would all face it together.

He couldn’t wait to get home.

_“That’s not Greg.”_

The fateful words stabbed at his heart. His eyes flew wide open, and the red began to subside and trickle down his cheeks, staining them permanently.

Blurred figures stood hunched over his body. Young, familiar faces. They seemed to all be gnawing at something. It didn’t take Henry long to figure out what.

First he noticed the metallic taste spreading in his mouth. He tried to spit it out, only for a fountain of warm blood to spurt out from his frail lips.

Next he heard the singing. The beautifully loud voices pounding at his skull, singing words he couldn’t quite comprehend. One word in particular suddenly beamed into his brain.

_Apotheosis._

A word he had heard many times before. A word that linked itself to decades of research. A word that he feared.

Then his vision cleared itself enough for him to recognise his surroundings. Lying under him were the shards of a shattered Alexa. More importantly, he looked look down at his own body and watched the faces of his beloved boys tearing at his innards and devouring them like rabid beasts. Henry puked in his mouth, and an ungodly concoction of vomit and blood began brewing in his throat. They were eating him alive.

Lastly, he felt the pain.

Agony ripped through his body, and he screamed. He heard his own screams echo against the pristine white walls around him. They were screams of horror, pain and betrayal. He screamed the names of each and every one of his beloved boys. He screamed as he watched (and felt) his own flesh be stripped from his skeleton and eaten by his best friends.

He only stopped screaming when his heart was torn from his bloodied figure.

Satisfied with their work, six various strangers abandoned the corpse and left to find their next victim, singing as they went.

The corpse of Henry Hidgens lay sprawled out on the once white, spotless floor of his lab, soaked in a pool of crimson. His grey hair was dyed red. Bones jutted out awkwardly of the large crater in his torso.

Spores of sound began to swim through the air and into his open body, trapping him in a never-ending song of slavery.

It was nothing like world peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, let me know what you think of this! Any kind of feedback would really make my day. Also, if anyone has any requests/prompts regarding Henry and his boys, be sure to post them in the comments or ask on one of my Tumblrs!
> 
> cheeky-da-monkey.tumblr.com (main, personal blog)  
> alittlesliceofcucumber.tumblr.com (fandom blog, where I post fics and Starkid stuff)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!


End file.
